The 18th edition of Continental Chess's Pacific
Coast Open took place July 18-21 at the Sheraton in Agoura Hills, at the west
end of the San Fernando Valley. It marked a mixture of the "old": a 200+ player
turnout - 216, with 90% of the prize fund based on 230 target reached after
adjustments, and two U.S. Championship participants, GM Timur Gareev and "FM
with two GM norms" John Bryant, tying for first in the 47 player Open section.

The new included the successful West Coast debut of the mixed
doubles concept. This calls for the scores of male and female self-designated
partners, regardless of section, to be combined with additional money prizes at
stake. With 10% of the players being female, one fifth of the participants were
on a team - something for the "good, but we have a long way to go" category, as
getting more women and girls into tournament chess is an obvious goal of mixed
doubles. In this tournament the average rating for a team was capped at 2199;
for comparison, in the current U.S. Open, which is in one section, it's 1799.

Gareev unexpectedly showed up the day before the two-day schedule began, upsetting
some other players' plans. Forty-five minute games rarely produce topflight
games, but his Round 3 victory over Milov (with two sets of doubled pawns in an
ending!) demonstrated his practical play.

A draw against Jonathan Homidan (more on his breakout result below) and an uneventful last round contest with Matikozyan followed, assuring Gareev a tie for first.

Bryant, 22 (Sevillano's stepson) also played
in the fast schedule but followed a different course, losing to 2195-rated
Leonid Furman in the first round and needing five straight wins to land in the
winner's circle. His fifth round win over the talented young Texas Master
Jonathan Chiang set the stage.8...Nb4 is an unusual move in the Alapin
Sicilian, and the recapture on move ten with the queen rather than bishop does
not inspire confidence. Chiang delayed castling, giving Bryant the chance to
uncork some tactics on the e-file. A better alternative for Black was 16...exd5
17.Bxd5+ Be7, but White has a small but clear edge after 18.Bxc4.In yet another Alapin Sicilian, Black left
his e6 pawn weak with the aggressive 13...f5, but defended and counterattacked
well...until after time pressure, when 41...e5! would have virtually equalized.
Instead, 41...Ba3? forced White's rook to the optimal e-file, and the ...e5 break
came too late as White's attack crashed through, leaving Bryant tied for first
place.

The PCO also marked a big splash by 16-year-old Jonathan
Homidan, who broke Master only recently (his certificate was presented during
the tournament) but made 85-point rating gains in both the Pacific Southwest
Open two weeks before and in the PCO. After upsetting GM Vadim Milov in the
"fast" (Game/45) schedule, Jonathan downed IM Roman Yankovsky in the fourth
(merged) round.

The IM's offbeat line against the French left
him with better pawn structure but Black with more dynamic piece play, which
Jonathan utilized well. A time pressure blunder (34.Qf6 wins the e-pawn and
maintains virtual equality) cost White the game.Top seed Gareev was next in line for Homidan.
He appeared somewhat distracted during the game and made some second best moves
(for instance, either capture on d4 improves on move 12) that left White with
an edge because of the two bishops and protected past pawn that must be
blockaded. Jonathan was content to take a draw. And Coach Jay Stallings,
organizer of the Superstate scholastic championship and the Master-Junior simul,
fulfilled his possibly rash promise to shave off his mustache and beard (nine-year
fixtures) if Jonathan didn't lose.

Jay Stallings & Jonathan Homidan

And in the final round came GM Enrico
Sevillano, who trailed Gareev and Homidan by a half point.The GM's pawn sac is speculative but requires
careful defense, which Jonathan provided, though 24...Bc2 probably improves. At
that point Enrico could have restored the balance with 25.f5, one idea being
25...gxf5 26.Rg3+ Kh8 27.Bxf5 exf5 28.Rxf5 Rc4 29.Rgf3 with dynamic equality.
Instead, after 25.g4 Qg7! Black would have had a definite edge (if 26.f5 gxf5
27.Kh1, both 27...f4 and 27...Bc2 appear good), but after the game moves Black's
advantage is minimal and both players avoided tempting fate.Thus Homidan finished at 4½ - 1½,a half point out of first but a full point
ahead of the other Under 2300 players. He will be a senior at The Webb School
in Claremont, California this fall. Jonathan now has an undefeated streak of 36
games, many against masters, going back to the American Open in November 2011.
Despite his relatively infrequent tournament play, he studies and takes weekly
lessons from IM Andranik Matikozyan.

Homidan and Matikozyan were joined the third
place tie by Iranian GM Ehsam Gahem Maghami (who won three straight after
losing to Homidan in the last round of the fast schedule) and FM Luis Carlos De
Arco of Colombia (winner of four straight after a bye and a loss to
young Albert Lu).Class winners included Kevin Moy of Northern
California, who recently turned 13 (Under 2100; a recent high school grad from
the Bay Area who spent the weekend on crutches, Ojas Chinchwadkar (Under 1900
and rated 1898 - sometimes the favorites come through); and local players James
Gould (Under 1700) and Chris Lane (Under 1500). The Under 1200s were divided
into adult and junior sections (it's true, sometimes the older players would
rather not play young kids), with David Fujii winning the former and Alex
Shaham and AlbertXu tying in the
latter.

As for the Mixed Doubles, the lady carried
most of the load for the winning team, from the bay Area. Seventh grader Trina
Chatterjee scored 5-1 (and gained 204 points) in Under 1500, while Cal
McCarty-Snead, a third grader, earned 2½ in Under 1700. Trailing a half-point
behind at 7 points were Arizonans Liulia Cardona in Open (3) and Cardona's student Justin Frielander in Under 1500 (4). The
West's appetite has been whetted!